Last year, as part of a class project, Amalia Darji's class shopped at Meijer for donations to Northville Civic Concern, the local food pantry providing food to the needy, particularly children.

Amalia was so touched by the experience, she took it upon herself this year.

Amalia, a 9-year-old fourth-grader at Ridgewood Elementary School, put up a stand outside her family's Northville home and sold apple cider and doughnuts to neighborhood residents. Her original intent was to give half the proceeds to Civic Concern.

But when she was done, Amalia had raised $113, far more than she expected — and all of it ended up with the food pantry.

"I wanted to do something nice," Amalia said. "I had a lot of money. I didn't really need it, so I bought other things for other families."

That’s music to the ears of Marlene Kunz, director of the Northville Civic Concern, an all-volunteer organization founded in 1983 by a group of concerned citizens to benefit the needy of the local community. Its primary purpose is to provide food to those in need.

It runs exclusively on donations, including efforts like the one by Amalia, who got some help from her sister Alissa. Kunz said Amalia’s cider sale is typical of attempts from kids to help.

Children, she said, will often ask for food donations at their birthday parties, for example, in lieu of presents.

“It’s all about how we can help each other. ... They’re trying to make a difference," she said. "They are more than just hometown heroes. I know how important it is for a child to feel like they’re doing something important.”

It’s not just small efforts like Amalia’s, though. Northville Civic Concern benefits from large donors, too, maybe none more prominent than Meijer, which has made the Concern part of its Simply Give campaign the last several years.

The program allows Meijer customers to purchase Simply Give cards, which are converted into Meijer food-only gift cards (although the local Meijer also lets Northville buy diapers and baby formula). It also has “double match” days (two are coming up Nov. 11-12).

Those help for times like the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when Northville Civic Concern does some of its biggest business.

“It really helps us,” Civic Concern volunteer Margaret Zonka said. “We are totally based on donations from churches and schools. (The Meijer donations) really help us pick up other things people don’t normally donate.”

While the larger donations like those from Meijer help, it’s the smaller ones like Amalia’s that warm hearts the most. They also provide proud parent moments for moms like Meeta Darji, Amalia’s mother. The family is in its first year here, having moved from England when Amalia’s father took a job with the Bosch Corp.

Meeta said her daughter’s visit to Meijer on that class trip last year “struck a chord” in Amalia. That chord drove Amalia to make her own donation this year.

“She’s been through so much change the last year,” Meeta said. “She was initially only going to give half the money, but then she changed her mind. I’m super proud.”